FAQ

I accept digital mobile (cash) payments through Venmo, Paypal, Zelle, and Cash App as well as credit, debit, and Health Savings Account (HSA) cards. For credit card, debit and HSA card payments, I use a secure online portal through the application Square (aka SquareUp). It allows card numbers to be stored safely and it means that cards don’t need to be entered manually after every session. It is not required of clients, however.

No, I don’t take insurance. I am happy to provide professional receipts.

Insurance companies tend to focus on keeping their spending and reimbursement to a minimum. They often see you as just a number in a business transaction, which feels counter-therapeutic.

Also, I am a one-person operation and don’t want to manage the paperwork and bureaucratic minutiae. I want to focus my total energy on my clients and my professional training needs and interests.

The first time we connect is usually by phone. It’s an opportunity to learn a little about each other. Our chemistry is very important.

Research supports the idea that the most significant factor in a successful counseling outcome is the relationship between you and the counselor. Often this appears to matter much more than the counselor’s training, practice philosophy, or the kinds of challenges faced.

To work well, you need to feel at ease and completely comfortable with no judgment or stress to perform. You want to feel understood and accepted for the sacred person that you are.

I may ask you to be particularly attentive and mindful of a situation or relationship dynamic. Or, I may encourage some exploratory writing or creating a drawing focused on something we talked about, an experience you have had, or a poignant dream.

At times, I have asked individuals to jot down some ideas on paper related to future intentions. If homework is not something you want, it is not a requirement, period.

Once a week is most common, and I encourage new clients to commit initially to this time frame for the sake of building meaningful momentum. Especially early in our work, some clients prefer to see me a few times a week.

There are a variety of options available, and rest-assured scheduling is very flexible.

I see counseling as a gentle process, a doorway to being able to more deeply understand, integrate, and reshape life circumstances in a safe, encouraging, and peaceful space.

A goal is to help you navigate towards more clarity so that things that feel daunting feel more manageable. We will build a sturdy emotional and spiritual foundation that you can count on during and after our work has concluded. 

Ultimately, you should expect to find increased integrity, composure, and stamina, and the spirit needed to face your circumstances with steadiness and poise.

I use a combination of methods centered around an emotionally-focused process and including narrative, existential, contemplative, and humanistic frames. There are also aspects of relational and systems theory in how I see the world and this impacts the counseling process.

My primary influences include the work of Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön; psychologists Francis Weller and Murray Bowen; theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel; Buddhist teacher and Founding Director of the Zen Hospice Project, Frank Ostaseski; professor of integrative medicine and healer, Rachel Naomi Remen; and grief expert, Robert Neimeyer.

You may be surprised to learn that chaplaincy training focuses on presence, reverent attentiveness, deep listening, loss, sorrow, forgiveness, and grace. It is about creating a sanctuary space for witnessing and holding whatever emerges.

If a client desires a conversation about God, theology, religion, or prayer, I can and will broach these topics. If not, then I won’t.

Dessert − cherry pie, hands-down! A sweet and sour flavor is sublime, and a thin crust is icing on the cake. A gooey, thickened sauce is a turnoff.

Movie − the 2006 French thriller, Tell No One. The dramatic pace is stunning, the acting is Shakespearean quality throughout, and the storyline is compelling and infectious. The movie makes you feel spellbound and breathless from start to finish. (For the movie buffs out there, it starred François Cluze, Marie-Josée Croze and André Dussollier — but you knew that.)

Yes, I had two particularly fun nicknames. My spouse started calling me the “Portable Playground” when our children were very young. There was much joy in tossing our young children into the air, thrillingly or swinging them round and round (simulating a merry-go-round), among other notable circus-like feats. (Who needed a playground?)

I was anointed “Mr. Right Now Man” with all the rights and privileges based on a habit of taking care of getting tasks done immediately to minimize additions to the ongoing to-do list.

Let’s take care of it now!